Reduce weight of school bags

By

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January 26, 2020

In a landmark decision, the govt. has laid down a list of guidelines for schools to reduce the weight of school bags. The government’s policy mandates that school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of the child’s body weight.

In July 2015, the state education department had clearly laid down a list of guidelines for schools to reduce the weight of school bags. Even though there is a policy in place, the children carry most of the books thereby carrying heavy school bags. Three years after the Maharashtra government came up with a policy to reduce the weight of school bags, little seems to have been done to implement the same. .

It is indeed a step in the right direction to make school bags lighter for children. The Human Rights commission is there to look into the problems of the people including school-going children. Present day education system is taxing. School fees are very high and the school bags have become a burden. There is no doubt about it. The State Government’s policy in place, kids still carry heavy school bags. After the introduction of computers in schools, colleges and offices, there is need to reduce paper work and hence the school bags should weigh lightly. Instead of reducing the weight of school bags, school authorities add more weight to these bags by adding more books and in the process more note books as well.

Parents have to bear a major share of the cost of books/note books as well the weight of the bags as the parents feel pity on their children and carry the school bags to the school. The order of the Maharashtra State Human Rights is a right step in the right direction. It is up to the State Government to follow the order in the right spirit and provide the best solution to the school-going children. School authorities and the Parent-Teacher Associations are ready to monitor the weight of the bags and bring it down with an amicable solution. The end solution to the problem is that the policy in place should be implemented in total and proper monitoring is the need of the hour.

School children will go through motions with great difficulty till the time better council prevails and put a block on weight of these school bags. School children undergo more stress and strain because of the increasing weight of the school bags. The life of school children is for enjoyment and getting valuable education. By carrying bulky bags, the school children carry heavy burden on their shoulders and it is up to the State Government to reduce the load by introducing the order in letter and spirit. And that is my clarion call. Other schools must follow in reducing the sizes of school bags in the next academic year.

The familiar sight of spindly school students staggering under heavy, bulging school bags may soon be a thing of the past, at least in some states. The government has thrown the ball or rather the pen back in the students’ court by asking them for suggestions on how to ease the load. The students’ suggestions include introduction of locker systems, canteens for unaided schools so that students don’t have to lug their lunch boxes and ensuring that managements adhere to a timetable. Students have also asked to be allowed to keep all items that are not academically-related in lockers. By introducing CDs and DVDs, you can still reduce the burden and the children will be able to become computer savvy from their young age.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 26 January, 2020

By

Web Team

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January 26, 2020

1Court-appointed arbitrators should be regulated to avoid tactics of
money-minting

It is a normal process that retired judges of higher courts are appointed as arbitrators by Courts giving them a chance to earn more income than they earn while being judges in higher courts.

There are reports that these arbitrators charge exorbitantly for each hearing. Even if all the concerned parties mutually agree for adjournment much before date of hearing, arbitrators insist on sending representation for adjournment on fixed date of hearing so that they may forcibly charge for a hearing held just for seeking adjournment.

An RTI response dated 24.12.2019 from the Department of Legal Affairs has revealed that central government is not considering any reforms to prevent such anti-public practice of arbitrators.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 should be amended to prevent such money-minting tactics of arbitrators. Complete details of arbitration-fees earned by an arbitrator case-wise in a year mentioning also number of hearings conducted in each case should be made public by putting all details on websites of Courts that have appointed them as arbitrators. There must be some maximum reasonable amount fixed for an arbitrator for a particular case. Money earned by way of arbitration must not exceed what arbitrators earned before retirement.

However, maximum time limit for withholding arbitration-award after completion of hearing has recently been fixed as one year (except for international awards) by amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 where earlier there was no such limit. But even one-year period for arbitration-award is too much which should be maximum three months.

Madhu Agrawal

2Nirbhaya’s mother turns down Indira Jaisingh plea

The mother of Nirbhaya has turned down the plea of Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh to forgive the convicts of rape-cum-murder of her daughter. In a reply the mother of Nirbhaya said that she does not have a big heart like Sonia Gandhi who pleaded for the mercy of the killers of her husband Rajiv Gandhi.

Here, the big question arises how and why Congress leaders including leading lawyers in the party at that time did not utilise legal skill to save Nathuram Vinayak Godse who became the first-ever hanged victim in free India that too at a young age of just 39 years. Evidently, all such legal loopholes to defer hanging were available then too. Even former Delhi Congress Chief Sushil Sharma is now free after completing formality of a life sentence though he mercilessly burnt pieces of his murdered wife in a Tandoor of Ashoka Yatri Niwas in New Delhi.

It was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders who turned down mercy-pleas of two sons of MK Gandhi namely Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi for Nathuram Godse whose patriotism and nationalism cannot be doubted even though killing of any person cannot be justified.

Justice GD Khosla hearing the appeal of Nathuram Godse revealed that the convict repented of his deed and desired to spend the rest of his life in promotion of peace and service of the country if he was given mercy.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

3Indian film makers distort history for controversy

No single nomination for Indian films at the Oscars comes as a surprise because our filmmakers concentrate on ‘masala entertainment’ than on real content that is appreciated on global platforms. Most films made in India are purposefully made controversial with distorted history for free publicity. This is the reason why they are ignored on the global platform. Good films with great content may not be box office hits and producers in India want to make films which earn over Rs.100 crores in a couple of weeks which means that we have become business-centric and in the process get farther from reality as well as art.

The govt. needs to encourage low budget films with history and art in their content which when produced at a low cost has no burden to resort to distortion to earn crores in a short time. Films should be close to reality and it is not necessary for them to be shot at exorbitant locations to be appreciated by the masses. Regional films hardly have any audience and tax cuts as well as other benefits should be offered to them for survival as they are the ones which can win you Oscars as well as international recognition which is so very important than the ‘masala films’ which though they do great business but are forgotten in a couple of weeks.

S.N.Kabra

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

BJP snoops phones of NCP-Sena leaders

By

Hema Singh

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January 24, 2020

It is a given thing that in politics people of the ruling party alleges the opposition party and the same has happened in the case of Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. NCP leader and Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has claimed that the erstwhile BJP government had tapped into the phones of non-BJP leaders in Maharashtra including that of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. And to go into the details, the government has ordered a probe into the misuse of government machinery by the earlier government.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said, “Earlier there was no phone tapping issue during elections because it is not in our culture to tap phones of opposition leaders. Neither did the government such orders. But even if someone wants to investigate about the same, he can do so and place the report in front of the people.”

On Thursday, Deshmukh had said, “We have received many complaints of phone-tapping and snooping by the previous government. Phones of senior politicians like Uddhav Thackeray and even Sharad Pawar were tapped to know whom they were talking to.”

According to Deshmukh, the state police’s cyber cell had been asked to look into various complaints about surveillance that came in during the previous government’s tenure.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said, “This is a very serious issue and there is a need for a strict action if the phones of all senior leaders are snooped. The Home minister has raised this issue and I am sure that he will do a proper investigation in the matter as to why was it done, whether it was done with the permission of any court so on and so forth. The report will come after the investigation is complete.”

After this Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut in a tweet on Friday said, “Aapke phone tap ho rahe hai… Yeh jankari mujhe bhajpa ka ek varisht mantri ne bhi de rakhi thi… maine kaha tha bhai sahab … meri baat agar koi sunna chahta hai toh swagat hai..main Balasaheb Thackeray ka chela hoon… koi baat yaa kaam chhup chhupkar nahi karta… Suno meri baat…”

आपके फोन टैप हो रहे है..
ये जानकारी मुझे भाजपा एक वरिष्ठ मंत्रीने भी दे रखी थी. मैने कहां था..भाई साहेब..मेरी बात अगर कोई सुनना चाहता है. तो स्वागत है..मै बाळासाहेब ठाकरेजी का चेला हूं. कोई बात या काम छुप छुपकर नही करता..सुनो मेरी बात.. pic.twitter.com/zLrWajLC6d

— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) January 24, 2020

(Your phone is being tapped. This was told to me by a senior BJP minister earlier. I told him whoever wishes to listen to my conversation is free to do so. I am a disciple of Balasaheb Thackeray, I don’t do anything secretly.)

NCP MLA and spokesperson Vidya Chavan said, “When the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed talks held between Sharad Pawar, Sanjay Raut and Uddhav Thackeray was heard by the BJP government like thief. Through this act the government has breached right to privacy. The Maharashtra government will investigate this matter and truth will be unveiled.”

According to sources, the phone tapping exercise was also done after the elections were over and when the negotiations between the parties went on for months before Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress finally formed government in Mahrashtra.

“There is no doubt that the previous dispensation has misused the government machinery to tap of phones of leaders from opposition parties,” the Maharashtra minister further added.

As per report, the officer of cyber cell was sent to Israel to study different softwares used for snooping. And these people used spyware like Pegasus which was recently revealed by WhatsApp as having been used extensively for extracting users’ private data. The new government has shifted out the cyber cell chief amid other bureaucratic transfers.

A few days ago, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had also remarked on the same saying that phones of leaders were tapped by the government during elections and even during coalition of the three-party government. After that, Deshmukh raised the issue and said that the government has begun a probe. He also stated that the officers are looking into the matter and a report is expected to come out soon.

Commitment to quality has led to high processing standards

By

Afternoon Voice

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January 24, 2020

Who doesn’t know Prasad Studios, the production house that has made over 150 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Its wing Prasad Film Labs are motion picture post production studios in Hyderabad, India that was founded by the Prasad Group in 1956.

This group is the largest chain of post production facilities in India with a total of 12 delivery units located in all the major film production centers of India such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhuvaneswar, Kolkata and has an overseas presence in Singapore, Dubai and United States. It has also won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Processing Lab for as many as nine times over the last three decades.

The Mumbai Unit of Prasad Labs is helmed by Executive – Director J. Naidu.

In a tete-a-tete, we sit across Mr Naidu and ask him some queries that he happily answers.

Tell us about Prasad Labs

The Lab here was launched in 2001 and the opening function was graced by industry stalwarts like Yash Chopra, Feroz Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker to name a few. Prasad Labs deals with film processing and printing that is a part of the post-production process. The quality matches international standards. In a way we do the entire pre and post-production of films. In short, you can surmise our activities as ‘From cameras to theatres and multiplexes’. We also have full-fledged labs in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhubhaneshwar. Prasad Labs, Chennai is a Kodak certified Imagecare Lab.

What is the speciality of your lab in Mumbai?

Hmm, the Lab in Mumbai is the first such lab in the country that processes negatives by kit chemistry, in which we use ultra pure readily mixed chemical kits that are directly imported from Rochester, Kodak USA. It comes in concentrated form and is diluted in our labs with ionized filtered water. This chemical is three times costlier than the bulk chemicals used in other Labs. There is absolutely no room for error as in manual mixing, as is done in other labs. We might be the only ones using mostly Eco friendly chemicals including the Dizzolvine imported from Holland. Using a combination of new equipment and technology, skilled technicians, stringent quality control and years of experience, Prasad Film Labs (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd are now able to process films with quality on par with other International Film Laboratories. Commitment to quality has led to high processing standards with ‘No scratches and Dust’. The results speak for themselves – Cleaner images, better black detail, no colour bias and more natural skin tones.

It is understood, that in this industry time is of immense importance. How do you tackle it?

As a part of our efforts to deliver quality products even faster, Prasad extends a great option to all the esteemed clients wherein the exposed negatives are processed the same day, do a one light Telecine of the processed negatives and the tapes delivered immediately to carry on with the work as quickly as possible. All this comes, at very competitive rates and no extra costs, but with the Prasad assurance of service and quality.

Tell us about the process?

The exposed negatives of 400 feet are processed in negative processors. These processors have a speed of 100 feet per minute which is the fastest such Negative processor available in the country. The entire processing hall is centrally air conditioned equipped with HEPA filters for a dust-proof atmosphere. The lab is equipped with two high-speed Positive processing machines each operating at 27,000 feet per hour. Third, operating at 9000 feet per hour. The lab has a capacity to process approximately 100 release prints per day.

What after processing?

The processed negatives are checked in our specially designed clean room negative handling section and later subjected to ultrasonic cleaning, where the negatives are ultra cleaned before telecine and printing operations. Here the processed negatives of 400 feet are joined to make them into lab rolls of 800 feet. The processing area is also fitted with electro-static filters installed in AHU (air handing units) for an ultra clean dust-proof environment. We have two ultrasonic cleaning machines in order to carry out the operations before printing as well as before telecine, simultaneously.

Please tell us about the next step.

The next step is the telecine transfer for which we have an in-house telecine facility. In this operation we digitally transfer visuals of the original negatives into video tapes in different formats and ratios as per the requirements. These tapes are used for the final editing job wherein the editors get their final cut-lists and pull-lists based on which the final negative cutting can be carried out.

How long does the colour correction process take?

Colour correction is a tedious procedure. Where there is no DI done in a film, the final edited film negative is subjected to shot-by-shot correction on the Color Analyzer, which is used for colour balancing, every shot of the film. The data of the colour balancing which is recorded on a floppy is fed to the printing machines.

What is the next procedure?

The final edited picture negatives are then matched with the final mixed sound negative (the mixed track). The first copy is taken out for the approval of the DOP. If no further color corrections are necessary the first married copy goes to the censors. The final release prints of the film are then made on the printing machines. The bulk copies are then delivered to the distributors of different territories, who release the film.

Could you name the films processed in your Lab?

We have done more than 150 films in the last two years which includes big banners like Krissh, Rang De Basanti, Lakshya, Don, Life In A… Metro, Gandhi My Father, Guru, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Drona, Rock On!! and Dark Knight (prints only).

Besides films from India do you also process foreign films?

Very much. A lot of foreign films from Far East, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia are processed at Prasad Labs, Mumbai facility. We are proud to state that the world-famous Éclair Labs, France happened to process the negatives of one of their clients at our Lab. After seeing the results of our processing, Guy Manas, Technical Director, commendably wrote to us as follows: – “At Prasad Labs, Mumbai they do a clean job, have good sensitometry and we get very good attention from people there.”

Showing reverence to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

By

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

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January 24, 2020

I am disheartened seeing the preparations of celebrating the birth centennial of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury.

The birth centennial of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who served both as the president and prime minister of Bangladesh will be celebrated in the country on March 17, 2020.

On the occasion Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, the editor of the Bangladeshi tabloid Weekly Blitz penned in a few lines.

Excerpts:

Personally, I am disheartened at the visible preparations of celebrating the birth centennial of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was born on March 17, 1920 for various reasons.

The first reason behind all this is the making of a biopic of Bangabandhu. According to media reports, prominent Indian film director Shyam Benegal has been assigned as the director of the biopic and he has very recently interviewed several possible actors and actresses in Bangladesh and India to play various roles. In 1980, when the Indian government decided to make a biopic on Mahatma Gandhi, they did not even consider any of the domestic filmmakers. The film was a British-Indian joint production and the screenplay was written by John Briley and produced and directed by Richard Attenborough. Award-winning celebrated actor Ben Kingsley played the title role of Gandhi in this film.
Gandhi was released in India on November 30, 1982 while it was released in the United Kingdom on December 3 and in the United States on December 10. It was nominated for prestigious Academy Awards in eleven categories of which it won eight including Best Picture and Best Director for Briley. The film was screened retrospectively on August 12, 2016 as the opening film at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defence that were commemorating the 70^th Indian Independence Day. The screenplay of Gandhi is available as a published book.

Some more highlights on the film, Gandhi:

Incidentally, the film was Attenborough’s dream project although two previous attempts of filming the biopic had failed. In 1952, Gabriel Pascal secured an agreement with the Prime Minister of India (Jawaharlal Nehru) to produce a film about Gandhi’s life. However, Pascal died in 1954 before preparations were completed.

In 1962 Attenborough came into contact with Motilal Kothari, an Indian-born civil servant who was working with the Indian High Commission in London and a devout follower of Gandhi. Kothari insisted that Attenborough meet him to discuss a film about Gandhi. Attenborough agreed and after reading Louis Fischer’s biography of Gandhi and spent the next 18 years attempting to get the film made. He was able to meet Prime Minister Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi through a connection with Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Nehru approved of the film and promised to help support its production but his death in 1964 was one of the film’s many setbacks. Attenborough would dedicate the film to the memory of Kothari, Mountbatten and Nehru.

Next, David Lean and Sam Spiegel had planned to make a film about Gandhi after completing The Bridge on the River Kwai, reportedly with Alec Guinness as Gandhi. Ultimately, the project was abandoned in favor of Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Attenborough reluctantly approached Lean with his own Gandhi project in the late 1960s and Lean agreed to direct the film and offered Attenborough the lead role. Instead, Lean began filming Ryan’s Daughter during which time Motilai Kothari had expired and the project fell flat.

Again, Attenborough attempted to resurrect the project in 1976 with backing from Warner Brothers. Then prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India and shooting would be impossible. Co-producer Rani Dube persuaded the Prime Minister to provide the first $10 million from the National Film Development Corporation of India chaired by D. V. S. Raju at that time on the back of which the remainder of the funding was finally raised. Finally, in 1980 Attenborough was able to secure the remainder of the funding needed to make the film. Screenwriter John Briley had introduced him to Jake Eberts, the chief executive at the new Goldcrest production company that raised approximately two-thirds of the film’s budget.

Shooting began on 26 November 1980 and ended on 10 May 1981. Some scenes were shot near Koilwar Bridge, in Bihar. Over 300,000 extras were used in the funeral scene, the most for any film according to the Guinness World Records.

With due respect, I would like to ask: Can Shyam Benegal attain even a small fraction of such achievement? Never! He has no face value in the global cine-circuit. Still we have assigned him to direct the biopic of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Why? Don’t we have any access in the Hollywood and English film industry? Or someone on purpose has chosen Mr. Benegal to direct the film with the ulterior agenda of undermining Bangabandhu? In my personal opinion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should immediately intervene in this matter and assign her people to find a befitting and internationally-acclaimed director for the biopic of Bangabandhu.

The media coverage

After 49 years of the independence of Bangladesh, we still are unable in projecting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman properly to the international community. I would like to share a very recent shocking experience.

On December 5, 2019, Ms. Dolly Joshi, a senior correspondent of India’s leading TV channel Republic TV contacted me for some information and video footage on our war of independence. At one point, when I requested her to include a segment on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to my utter surprise she asked “Who is he?”

Joshi’s question not only gave me a huge shock, but I was also able to realize that we have miserably failed to introduce our Father of the Nation even to the people in our neighboring nation. Isn’t it a matter of great shame?

I am almost certain that those pundits occupying cozy chairs in the inner circle of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will once again fail in adopting effective policies in letting the world know about the auspicious birth centennial of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They will even most definitely fail in getting a proper coverage in the international media on 17^th March 2020, the birthday of Bangabandhu.

Bangabandhu’s birth centennial should be observed with huge enthusiasm and festivity in Bangladesh and around the world. We need to immediately mobilise our total efforts in ensuring this important day is not missed by the international media.

Above all, we need to let the people of Bangladesh know as to how much important Bangabandhu is to us in encouraging everyone in taking full preparations for celebrating March 17 with utmost enthusiasm.

I do sincerely hope, it will happen.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

Was exclusion of MS Dhoni from central contract awardees list right?

By

C K Subramaniam

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January 24, 2020

MS Dhoni has been excluded by the BCCI from a 27-member list of central contract awardees for the 2019-20 season. The ex-captain’s omission is a possible indicator that the legendary World Cup-winning captain’s days as India cricketer are numbered. The 38-year-old former Indian captain who hasn’t played competitive cricket since India’s World Cup semifinal exit to New Zealand at Old Trafford had held an ‘A’ category contract in the previous cycle viz. 2018-19. The keeper-batsman took a sabbatical in the immediate aftermath of India’s World Cup exit but hasn’t been considered for selection thereafter with Chief Selector MSK Prasad stating that the team was “moving on” from Dhoni. Thus Dhoni dhamaka is as good as over.

Knives were already being sharpened when Dhoni stayed away from playing for India after the World Cup 2019 match against New Zealand in July. Some former cricketers held that he would have lost his sharpness by not playing since then while some others stated that he should not be given the privilege to pick and choose matches. Could the BCCI have shown some leniency to Dhoni? After all, how many cricketers, past and present can claim to have led India to two World Cup title wins? Only Dhoni enjoys that matchless record. Add to it is his roster of 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20Is you have someone who did India proud and served it with distinction for long.

Even otherwise, his replacement in the shortest form of the game, Rishabh Pant has not exactly covered himself with glory. Dhoni is still the better wicket-keeper and more valuable to the side in other aspects too. May be the BCCI could have been a lot more sensitive to his case. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a most prominent omission from BCCI’s central contracts list for 2019-2020 released recently. His exclusion from the list of cricketers with an annual retainer is yet another indication that perhaps the three-time ICC trophy-winning captain may not don the India Blues again. The contracts for the October-September cycle are awarded by a three-member committee consisting of the BCCI president, secretary and chief selector based on the performance during the last cycle. Dhoni hasn’t played competitive cricket since India’s World Cup semifinal exit. The graded players are:-

Grade A+ (₹7 crore): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A (₹5 crore): Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant.
Grade B (₹3 crore): Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal.
Grade C (₹1 crore): Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar.

It is better to quit the game when people ask why? Instead of dragging so long he ought to have announced his retirement after the World Cup. BCCI is not a place for parking players and hoping for the best in the future.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 24 January, 2020

By

Web Team

-

January 24, 2020

1Row over birthplace of Sai Baba

Currently, India is now seized with so many religious conflicts, courtesy pseudo-secular policies of the long Congress regime for decades. The government is not in a position to bear more such controversies like the now developed in Maharashtra Chief Minister announcing rupees 100-crore package for developing village Pathri as birthplace of Sai Baba that too when there have been too many theories about parents and birthplace of Sai Baba. Such an unthoughtful announcement made by the Maharashtra Chief Minister to take a U-turn on the issue because of protests of the people of Shirdi.

There is no confirmation or firm religious faith about Pathri to be birth place of Sai Baba unlike Ayodhya where there are no two opinions about the city being definitely the birth place of Lord Rama. Script-writers for speeches of President of India should also be careful in the future because the President in September 2017 mentioned Pathri to be birth-place of Sai Baba.

Madhu Agrawal

2Western Railways grandiose venture may turn awry

I was delighted to read the news titled ‘Soon selling good in Western Railway AC local train to be legal’ in your esteemed newspaper. The news detailed how the WR was in plans to sell electronic wares as mobiles, laptops etc. in AC locals. One thing was not clear about the timing the goods would be on sale.

In the morning, people would be in a haste to go to their offices and will have no time to go through the wares and compare the prices. In the evenings commuters will be in haste to go back home to be among his family members. Here in this case also there will be very few people who would be interested to buy such expensive wares. All these things need one to be in a leisure mind.
Now, the question is that when will one get time to buy wares put on display by the WR. The only day left is Sunday.

Sundays also trains are crowded with people coming out to visit places of relatives and friends. But I wonder why people would buy these goods from a local train when they are used to buying such things from shops and galleries.

Would the WR sell these wares at discounted rates? If not, I am certain that selling these wares on board the locals would be a difficult proposition.

Gauri Mitra

3Excellent initiative from ministry of Ayush

Kudos to the Ministry of AYUSH which has come out with an excellent initiative to make people at work to destress and refresh themselves through Y-BREAK or Yoga break — a 5-minute exercise designed to make professionals and the complete staff at workplaces to have a healthy physique and a tension- free mind and help enhance a healthy life besides increasing productivity. This project may soon become part of the schedule at Government institutions and corporate bodies. Developed by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, with inputs from reputed Yoga experts, around 15 institutions including corporate houses like Tata Chemicals, Axis Bank and Ernst & Young Global Consulting Services have volunteered to join the project. Booklets and videos on how to practice yoga will be given to the staff at the work places . Besides , the ministry would be giving all possible help and support to see that this beautiful programme is inculcated among all.

This programme, undoubtedly, will be well received by all as today’s stressed life makes everybody desire for a break and when a break comes with a light but powerful exercise like yoga which can be done so easily and joyfully Y – it is surely going to be a hit among all as it makes them excellently fit. This break should be encouraged and initiated at all workplaces -government and non government.

M Pradyu

4It’s time to make use of Solar power

Of late, geo thermal energy and thermal energy are now being used to produce electricity across the world. The resources and raw materials required for the energy will soon dry out owing to excessive dependability on fossil fuels. Hence government organisations, international institutions and local bodies should now be mandated to use solar energy for its electricity and power consumption. Solar energy is one of the best possible sources of natural and renewable energy. It can be extensively used to produce electricity through its photo voltaic cells and solar thermal power and thus tap energy to a fullest extent.

An innovative strategy is the need of the hour to otherwise incentivise various countries to use solar energy. Public utility buildings such as airports, government offices etc should otherwise make a robust shift to solar powered buildings from traditional coal power. Attractive funding opportunities to harness solar power should be adopted by governments across the globe. International institutions such as International Solar Alliance should extensively focus on exploiting solar energy at least in the sunshine countries and thus help to reduce dependency much on fossil fuels.

Varun Dambal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Maharashtra Bandh: Protesters stone pelt BEST bus in Chembur, many auto rickshaws also off the road

By

Hema Singh

-

January 24, 2020

A 53-year-old BEST bus driver sustained injuries after a protest erupted near the Chembur area on Friday during the bandh called by Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). The party is protesting against the controversial acts viz Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC)brought in by the BJP.

According to an official, the bus driver was injured due to stone pelting in which the widescreen of the bus was damaged. However, no passengers were injured.

Reportedly, the incident happened at around 9:15am. near Swastik Park, Chembur when the bus was heading towards Kurla Station (East) on route number 362. That is the time when the bus was stopped by the protesters and soon they pelted stones and smashed its windows. The bus driver Vilas Babasaheb Dabhade, who was seriously injured, was rushed to the Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi.

Meanwhile, many autorickshaws and shops were also shut in the eastern parts of the city. On Thursday, a note issued by the VBA stated that more than 50 organisations in Maharashtra have supported their bandh call.

MNS face-lift: Saffron, Shivaji, Savarkar and Son introduced in politics

By

Vaidehi Taman

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January 23, 2020

It is the story of how two men bound by family ties and political ideology came face-to-face by challenging the ideologies and legacy of the party line. They made entirely different paths. Today, one of them is a chief minister, while the other is finding a path to conquer state politics. After looking at the successful launch of Aaditya Thackeray in active politics, Raj Thackeray’s son Amit was tossed into politics on Thursday. With a new flag and a new leader, Raj Thackeray gave a facelift to his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Amit Thackeray’s short thanksgiving speech was applauded enthusiastically by his immediate family. The new party flag features Chhatrapati Shivaji’s “Raj Mudra” on a saffron base. A “Raj Mudra” was the royal seal used during the time of Shivaji. With the party’s earlier flag having been saffron, blue and green, the switch triggered speculation about a possible consolidation of the Hindutva credentials of the party. Since Shiv Sena has aligned with Congress-NCP, people think that the Hindutva credentials are diluted. BJP has never worked on Hindutva agenda. Moreover, Modi ji clearly announced “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” and it was the Shiv Sena which was widely known as custodians of Hindutva politics in India. Now, with the BJP out of the ruling alliance, the race appears to be on for the saffron-Marathi vote bank. Uddhav Thackeray is expected to visit Ayodhya after he completes 100 days in power. The Shiv Sena leader has also extended an invite to Rahul Gandhi to travel with him to Ayodhya along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

On the other hand, Raj Thackeray who had sided with the opposition and his repeated attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had been widely circulated on social media. He was also said to be keen on joining the opposition alliance. But the idea was turned down by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in view of the party’s anti-migrant rhetoric. So, now to regain the lost sheen, he had no other option but to adopt the Hindutva ideology shifting from Marathi Manoos. Raj Thackeray had launched the new party in 2006 after his split with the Shiv Sena. The feud started after party patriarch Bal Thackeray chose his son Uddhav Thackeray to lead the party. Since then, the cousins have been chasing the Marathi vote and taking swipes at each other. With Hindutva equations, Raj might split the votes of BJP as well as Sena. BJP is keen on him filing the Hindutva void in the state. The former chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Raj Thackeray two weeks ago while Ashish Shelar, the party’s former Mumbai president had called on the MNS chief in the last week of December. BJP also hopes that Raj will revive his sons-of-the-soil plank as it will help with the implementation of the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC).

As people see Indira in Priyanka Gandhi, Raj is seen as a mirror image of Balasaheb, the way he gives speeches, one can easily relate it with Saheb. He has all those peculiar qualities of Balasaheb and to deal with one Thackeray one needs another Thackeray. Perhaps, this is the reason why BJP in spite of taking all attacks and humiliation from Raj is now seeking his support. Uddhav Thackeray walked away from the 25-year-old Sena-BJP alliance to come together with the NCP and Congress as the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Uddhav held Sonia Gandhi and Pawar to walk his ambition; Raj Thackeray began his mega rally by garlanding the picture of Savarkar along with B R Ambedkar, Prabodhankar Thackeray and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Savarkar on stage, saffron in flag, Raj Thackeray gave new hopes to saffron voters. MNS currently has a single representative in the 289-strong Maharashtra state assembly. For one, the Shiv Sena, under Uddhav Thackeray, is no longer a vehement proponent of Hindutva, an ideology that the senior Thackeray championed. Having formed the government in alliance with the Congress and the NCP, the Shiv Sena has also set aside its shrill sons-of-the-soil rhetoric. The opposition BJP, on the lookout for an alliance partner in the state, appears to now believe that the right person to perpetuate Bal Thackeray’s brand of politics is his nephew, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.

Despite the fact that Raj had been a vehement critic of the BJP and had campaigned against the party in the assembly elections, he had called for a “Modi-Shah-free India” ahead of the Parliamentary elections declaring that the country needed to get rid of the duo. Though his party did not contest, his “Laav re toh video (Show the video)” campaign against the BJP became extremely popular as it sought to expose the failures of the Modi government. Now, a friendless BJP in Maharashtra has knocked on his doors out of compulsions of regional politics though the party has its conditions. But Raj is not an easy leader to accept what they say, but adopt a larger goal. Raj has taken up Hindutva as the MNS ideology. There is a huge vacuum where the Hindutva ideology is concerned. With this, he can get huge support from the people and once again the dead MNS can regain its lost sheen.

Let’s see how does Uddhav’s ‘Secular Turn’ and cousin Raj’s floating Hindutva go with the voters. A transition to soft Hindutva by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena may pave the way for an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party to take on the ruling triumvirate of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. The BJP, despite being the single-largest party in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, has been left licking its wounds after the Shiv Sena broke off to form an alliance with the Congress and NCP.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Thackeray to tackle Thackeray, all about Hindutva politics

By

Afternoon Voice

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January 23, 2020

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is termed as secular after aligning with the Congress-NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Does this mean that the Shiv Sena has abandoned the Hindutva ideology? No, in a smart move Uddhav Thackeray has invited Rahul Gandhi to accompany him to Ayodhya when he visits the temple city in March when his government completes 100 days in office. With this move, Uddhav wants to show people that he has not given up the Hindutva ideology; he is very much with it. Uddhav himself had earlier stated that Shiv Sena would never abandon the ideology of Hindutva.

It looks like the MNS is undergoing a transformation akin to what Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena did by aligning with two parties of different ideologies like the Congress and NCP to anoint party president Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra’s chief minister by turning secular. Raj Thackeray, on the other hand, has taken over the ideology of Hindutva leaving behind the ‘Marathi Manoos’ ideology. The party has changed the colour of its flag to lean more towards the Hindutva ideology.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was founded in 2006 after Raj Thackeray split from the Shiv Sena. Now with Shiv Sena holding the secular flag, MNS thought it was the right time to hold the saffron flag. Raj Thackeray, along with party workers, unveiled the new flag and officially launched his son Amit Thackeray into mainstream politics on Thursday during the party’s Maha Adhiveshan at Nesco ground in Goregaon. It is said that Amit will be the leader of the party but as of now, no decision has been taken on what responsibilities will be given to him.

The MNS old flag, which consists of saffron, green, blue, with strips of white bands and bore the image of an engine whereas the new one is completely saffron. This flag also has the seal of the 17th century warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in it. According to some sources, the party chief wanted to change the flag before the year 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. However, he held it back due to some reason.

With the new saffron flag, MNS is going to bring a new twist in Maharashtra politics with several party members believing that it will boost the morale of party workers. MNS’s transition to Hindutva may pave way for an alliance with the BJP. As few weeks ago Raj Thackeray met former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai hotel.

Raj Thackeray who had quit the Shiv Sena and formed MNS after having a leadership tussle with cousin Uddhav Thackeray over the post of the president. However, for Raj Thackeray this step may be a political opening for an alliance with the BJP.

Now, this is what Raj Thackeray is looking at. He wants his party to be seen as a pan-India party. While the overt shift to Hindutva may alienate sections like the Marathi-speaking Muslims especially those in tier-II cities and rural Maharashtra and also Buddhist Dalits, who, being followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar resist political Hindutva. Raj Thackeray is depending on the pull he has as people like him. Whereas BJP when it was having an alliance with Shiv Sena it used to boast about the Hindutva agenda but after Sena parted ways, BJP lacks the political stand on Hindutva.

While the Shiv Sena’s adoption of aggressive Hindutva in the late 1980’s paid electoral dividends in the short-term, it eventually prevented its expansion as a pan-Maharashtra regional and sub-national party like political formations in Southern India.

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